“When a man’s life is destroyed or damaged by some wound or privation of soul or body, which is due to other men’s actions or negligence, it is not only his sensibility that suffers but also his aspiration toward the good. Therefore there has been sacrilege towards that which is sacred in him.” – Simone Weil
Dallas Blooms 2010
The Dallas Arboretum has announced its spring flower festival Dallas Blooms for 2010. It runs from March 6 to April 11. Can’t wait to be there! Another dirt-digging event to add is Argyle Acres‘ 2010 IRIS IN BLOOM event, running from April 10 to April 25. Lastly, North Haven Gardens has posted their 2010 event list. Exciting events such as their herb and daylily sales look to be a sure hit.
Dining, January first half of 2010
Blu Ginger Thai Cafe
Blu Ginger professes to be authentic Thai cuisine but too much of their menu displayed playful, gimmicky descriptions making it difficult to take them seriously. Newbie-friendly fusion seems to be the aim at Blu Ginger…which perhaps explains the hit-or-miss execution of their dishes. Their Tom Kha Gai, for example, lacked the lemongrass and fish sauce punch expected of the chicken coconut soup, rendering it bland and unmemorable. Their chicken and ginger soup however proved stellar, intensely fragrant and tasty. The Reunion, an appetizer sampler of satay chicken, wrapped shrimp, dumplings–artfully rendered and all very tasty, but terribly routine for Thai food. The Nutty Professor, Blu Ginger’s version of a peanut sauce dish, was marred by too much bean sprout filler–a disappointment. The spicy salmon curry (which our server warned us would take a longer time to prepare) first came out overcooked–the tail end of the fish came out dry and inedible. After a 2nd pass through the kitchen, the dish came out much more presentable, with a spicy sauce and prettily decorated with flash-fried basil (?) leaves. For the dessert course, Blu Ginger pleased us again, serving up 3 samplers in shot glass size: tapioca pudding, coconut custard and rice pudding–all excellent. Sadly, the high price of dinner dampened our overall satisfaction with the experience. The only area that Blu Ginger seems to surpass expectation is in presentation. Here’s to hoping for more consistency from Blu Ginger in the future.
My rating: stars
7 Salsas
7 Salsas serves up more than 7 tasty, spicy salsas. Their menu is chock full of Tex-Mex dining options. Sitting in a nice neighborhood in North Irving (and another location in Coppell), 7 Salsas is a somewhat-upscale setting presenting tasty and reasonably-priced fare. For our visit, the endless chips and salsas came out; every one of the salsas proved mysteriously and addictively spicy. The restaurant also served up remarkably tasty chicken jalapeno poppers–moist and mildly zingy. 7 Salsas’ version of a Caesar salad turned out to be the only disappointment in the evening–I expected a Caesar constructed from scratch, but the only show came from our disinterested server tossing a few leaves, corn niblets, red peppers, with prepared dressing. The Parillada turned out to be a satisfying combo fajita meal for two; steak, chicken and shrimp on a sizzling plate with a saucer of flaming chorizo queso. The fajitas were pleasingly flavorful, though we felt the queso insufficient for our needs. Despite our server’s indifference, we found dinner a pleasant experience at 7 Salsas that we’ll be coming back to explore the rest of their menu.
My rating: stars
That time of year again
In the past week, the weather in Texas has been unseasonably warm. Hard to believe it’s winter! The fiance and I raked up some leaves, moved some stone work, and did general clean up work in the front and central yards. Getting a general feel for the planting areas…much of the yards are in part to deep shade. This will be an interesting change in landscaping, dealing with shade-friendly plants. Right now my attention is on the Chocolate Ajuga that I have surviving in one planter. I’m not sure how robust it still is, but I imagine that if it survives any future freezes, I’d like to use it in the center yard for under-planting in the beds. The flame red salvias are hanging on, but looking rather reedy in their pots. The white salvia unfortunately drowned. Two rosemary plants experienced extremes in watering and temperature…I’m fairly certain they are on their way to the compost heap–if we had one! Two salsa jasmines appear to be surviving, along with a thyme plant (strangely hanging on despite the horrid conditions). The potato vines and caladium I’m certain are DOA, the Silver Dragon type liriope specimens are gamely holding their ground, and the occasional dianthus is showing a bit of green.
Did I mention I had pulled all my calla bulbs last fall for storage in the pantry? I’m hoping they will survive for planting this year.
Of course, having all of these gardening catalogs coming in the mail is adding to all of the excitement.
The Truth is Out There…
…but it’s up to you sift through all the Information and deduce It for yourselves. Much has been said about sites that purport to illuminate, debunk and set straight the record, but once the subject elicits passionate and partisan bias, everyone whose sensibilities are offended will quickly denounce the discrediting site as being slanted, inaccurate, and the-enemy-of-everything-they-hold-dear.
The internet has been the medium for the discriminating and prejudiced as well as the objective and unslanted. Depending on the topic, mood, and season, there is always a healthy smattering of news and information that denounces and criticizes what is perceived to be biased and subjective. One has to wonder with the millions of bits/bytes of information published on the Net nowadays if there is any source that is truly impartial any more.
My concern is for the Snopes and Factchecks of this world. I am an avid digester of digital urban legends and hoaxes, and nearly a decade ago, I had very few resources to rely upon to validate the soon-to-be-mail-server-busting multitudes of chain emails, scams, malware alerts and vicious rumors endlessly recycled by mailboxes throughout the world. My go-to back then was the CIAC Hoaxbusters site (long since retired), Snopes and the About pages concerning urban legends and hoaxes. Over time the volume of “misinformation” grew and inspired more sites to open shop, sometimes specializing in types of urban legends and spam. TruthorFiction, FactCheck, and the archives at Symantec and Trend Micro are just a small sampling of sites that I added to my roster of hoaxbusters.
Call me a skeptic but I just don’t like being duped. I also like data. Other interesting sites that I’ve visited on occasion: The Skeptic’s Dictionary, Mythbusters, The Straight Dope, Adherents.com.